Kouta in Wonderland
by Hiro Chiba
Summary: AU: After the events transpired at the end of Elfen Lied, a new set of problems arise. Kouta is suddenly accused of a murder he didn't commit, and is sentenced to death. His punishment, he is sent to Deadman Wonderland. The question is, will he escape this nightmare alive, or will he die? Read on to find out! Please Review! Rated T for some use of language.
1. End of a Dream, Beginning of a Nightmare

Summary: AU: After the events transpired at the end of Elfen Lied, a new set of problems arise. Kouta is suddenly accused of a crime he didn't commit, and is sentenced to death. His punishment, he is sent to Deadman Wonderland. The question is, will he escape this nightmare alive, or will he die? Read on to find out! Reviews appreciated.

*Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or contents from Deadman Wonderland, or Elfen Lied, they belong to their respective creators.*

**Kouta in Wonderland**

Chapter 1: End of the Dream, Beginning of the Nightmare

... ... ...

_Kouta's Dream:_

_A little girl with hair as white as snow, eyes red as blood, and skin just as pale, is sitting up against a tree on a hillside in Kamakura. She looks a bit forlorn and gloomy for a six-year-old. She sighs as she looked on ahead to a boy who was playing with an Ace Man action figure not too far away. She was bewildered at the sight. How could anyone be so carefree and happy?_

_ She continued to eye the boy. She thought the boy didn't notice her. But, as soon as she thought that, the boy responded to some invisible force of some kind, and turned in her direction. The boy's eyes widened. Widened in fear? No. More like curiosity and awe. The boy continued to stare, and got closer as he did so. This made the albino girl very annoyed._

_ "What are you staring at?" she asked as he got closer._

_ "Woah!" the boy exclaimed. "Is that your real hair color?"_

_ "Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" she furrowed her brow and turned her head to the side with a noticeable pink blush on her cheeks._

_ "It's just that I've never seen white hair on a kid before." The boy said._

_ The girl fiddled with her hair and tried to conceal her embarrassment. Her hair had always got her attention, and sometimes she was even ridiculed for her unusual appearance, but whenever someone tried to do that, she'd beat them up anyway._

_ "Sh-shut up! And go away!" she shouted._

_ The boy was confused as to why she was trying to hide from him, but he knelt down and petted the albino girl on the head._

_ "I didn't say I didn't like it. I think it's actually pretty cool!" he said._

_"Really?"_

_ "Yeah, it's totally cool!" the boy exaggerated and waved his arms wildly in the air. "My name's Kouta! What's your name?"_

_ "Sh-Shiro…"_

_ "Hey, let's be friends!"_

_ "Okay."_

_Flash forward-_

_ Kouta and Shiro are playing hide and seek out in the field and Kouta's it. Kouta turns toward the tree and counts while Shiro hides somewhere._

_ "…Four…three…two…one…" Kouta counted. "Ready or not, here I come!" _

_ Kouta looks around and spots a head of white hair behind a bush. Kouta feigns ignorance and whistles while he looks around._

_ "Oh, Shiro! Where are you hiding?"_

_ Kouta creeps closer to the bush, and opens it to find Shiro behind the bush. Shiro bursts out of the bush and runs toward the tree, but Kouta catches up to her, and grabs onto her arm, and pulls off the girl's arm. Kouta's eyes widened, and Shiro's eyes widened in horror. For fear that Kouta would be aghast at that, she quickly grabbed her arm back, and reattached it back. She was going to run away from Kouta, but before she could get very far, Kouta stopped her._

_ "Wait! Don't go!" he exclaimed, tears forming in his eyes._

_ Shiro stayed very still, her heart beat rapidly in her chest._

_ "But…my arm." She stuttered out._

_ "It doesn't matter! I still like you!" he confessed. _

_ Shiro's face at this point flushed several shades of red, and for the rest of the day, they spent chatting and playing games._

_ Fast forward a year-_

_ Two seven year olds sat in chairs in the hospital room where Shiro lived at. The albino girl was coloring a picture while the boy was busy tinkering with his action figure of Ace Man. The boy suddenly got out of the chair and started running around the room making random action sounds while playing with his toy. The girl placed her crayons down and pressed her fingers to her forehead. The whole day, she had been suffering from the pain of the past few experiments Sorae and Hagire conducted on her. Ever since she could remember, the scientists have been using her in some very excruciating experiments, and she may have gotten used to it, but they were, in a way, the only family members she has left._

_ All of a sudden, Kouta shoved his Ace Man close to her face, startling her out of her reverie. White hot pain coursed through her, and she slapped the offending object away from her, and pushed the boy down. The boy was so shocked that her friend pushed him down. All he wanted to do was to introduce her to Ace Man, and get her to laugh at him like she always did. But, there was none of the usual glee today. She had been quiet the whole time, and didn't even stop to look at him for a second._

_ "What are you doing?" he asked._

_ Shiro didn't seem to hear him, or even if she did, she ignored his words, and advanced forward. She picked up the wayward action figure and broke it in two pieces. Tears filled the corners of the boy's eyes, and he started bawling._

_ "Wh-why…d-did…you…d-do…th-that?" he managed to get out._

_ "You're so weak." Shiro said bluntly._

_ "Wh-what?" he cried._

_ "You're weak."_

_ The tears stopped flowing, and he shot up with anger and got in Shiro's face. It wasn't all that hard since Kouta was about four centimeters taller than the girl._

_ "What makes me weak? If I'm weak, I'll be strong like Ace Man!" he shouted angrily. "Why would you do that?"_

_ "You're useless. You'll never be anything but weak." She said. "Ace Man doesn't exist!"_

_ "How dare you!"_

_ The argument escalated so fast that Kouta was driven to tears again, and caused him to pick up his toys and leave the room._

_ Later, he was walking around until a bark startled him. A rabid dog was behind him. Kouta turned around and horrified, he ran away from the dog. The dog chased him around until he stumbled over a rock and fell on his face. Kouta turned around to face the dog, closed his eyes prepared for the dog to supposedly bite his face off, but nothing came._

_ Instead of the dog launching an attack on the boy, he heard a hard thud, a loud yelp from the dog, and the soft padding of feet walking on the ground. Kouta opened his eyes, and looked up to his savior. Bathed in all her glory, was Shiro, who seemed to glow with the mid-afternoon sun. _

_ "Kouta, you BAKA!" she shouted._

_ Kouta, bewildered, just stared right at her face, and the two just continued staring._

_ "You're weak! You'll never be strong because you always cry over stupid things!" Shiro exclaimed._

_ "Is that why you broke Ace Man?" Kouta asked._

_ "Yes! Because you don't need Ace Man! I'll be your Ace Man, because you're weak!" Shiro cried, and with that realization, Kouta just laughed._

_ Shiro also joined in on the laughter and the two just laughed at the irony._

_ The next day, Shiro and Kouta were playing a game, and Shiro began to hum a small tune she had gotten from her surrogate mother, Doctor Sorae. She sang it to Kouta, and Kouta listened intently. Just then, Doctor Sorae Igarashi came around to pick Shiro up for her check up. Kouta was sad to see her going so soon, but Shiro promised to come back next time. But, there was no next time. As Kouta was walking home, a devastating shockwave came his way, and a huge surge of energy that came from a distance erupted all at once, and Kouta blacked out from it._

_ … … …_

Present-

The shock of the dream woke Kouta up, and he found himself dripping with sweat. He had no idea why he dreamed that. As soon as he woke up, he began forgetting details from the dream. Kouta felt a chill like no other. He got up out of bed and walked out to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water.

While he was filling up a glass, he walked outside to gather some fresh air. After having that strange dream, he never realized that it would be hours until he really needed to wake up. After the events at the bridge happened, he would never be able to look at Lucy/Nyu the same way again. He knew that the girl was dangerous, and now the girls with horns are creatures designed to kill humans, but now that she had revealed her true nature to Kouta, he could never see her as innocent.

The revelation that she had killed his family was shocking to say the least. At first, when the memories came flooding through his mind, as if someone pulled an imaginary plug on them, and the rest came out like a drain. He never thought that in this world, there would be people that could kill so easily.

It had been a silly thought, but he realized that the reason that Lucy went berserk that day, eight years ago, at the festival, was mostly his fault. He knew he was lying to her. But, had he known about her state of mind, she wouldn't have done that and he wouldn't be alone, or have to deal with these bad memories. He looked back at the clock that had recently started working again. It was now 5:30 am, and he had been out there for nearly an hour and a half.

He contemplated about going to bed, but in a few hours, he'd have to go to work. The 19 year, almost 20 year old, worked in a middle school as a teacher's aide, which was apart of his career services. Since he was up, he decided to make breakfast for everyone. He cooked a simple American breakfast and set the plates out on the table. He ate his breakfast separate, and got ready for work.

The time was now 6:45am, and it was nearly time for the house to wake up. The first one down the stares was Lucy, now in her Nyu form. She was so bubbly early in the morning and she was ready to go. Next came Nana, Yuka, and Mayu.

"Good morning, girls!" he greeted.

"Morning…" Yuka yawned, before her eyes shot open. "Wait! What were you doing up? You're already ready to go to work! This isn't like you."

"I couldn't get much sleep, so I made breakfast for everyone." He said simply. "It's not the best gourmet meal, but I made it simple. Now, I'll be going to work now, so behave everyone!"

"Nyuu!" Nyu exclaimed happily, and waved Kouta off.

… … …

It was a peaceful day with everyone just lingering around. As soon as Kouta entered the room, the kids stopped to turn toward him. He sat down in his chair, and the students went back to bickering. In the corner, he noticed three students, Ganta was one of their names, he believed. A few more minutes passed, and the teacher walked in, and everyone bowed as usual.

Sensei gave Kouta a bunch of forms to pass out, and he went by the rows passing down the papers, but as soon as he reached the middle, he noticed an ominous shadow looming in the window. He looked toward the window, and made out a figure clad in red, with a mask covering most of the face, but not the mouth. Kouta was bewildered, until a few students looked in his direction. He heard a strange melody, one he's heard before, but not the one he was most familiar with.

"Ah! There's a guy floating out there!" a random boy shouted, and several heads followed after that.

Kouta was frozen in place, and his heart was racing a mile a minute. The ominous figure was obviously some kind of illusion, or some kind of fragment of his imagination. From what he's seen so far, flying men should not surprise him in the least. The young man then noticed something else off with the man floating. He noticed a wide grin on the figure's mouth. Then, something he heard he didn't think he could ever forget, came as a throaty chuckle from the figure's mouth.

_"Kishi!" _without warning, the windows exploded and the desks in the surrounding area were blown backward, along with the students in them. The students were killed immediately, as if a gale force blew by. The figure entered the classroom, and the next thing Kouta knew, he blacked out, and the muffled sounds of screams echoed through his head, and he falls forward, landing in a puddle of some sort of liquid.

Minutes, or perhaps it was hours, later, Kouta opened his eyes little by little, and turned around onto his stomach, and stood up. The room was dark, blackened by the shadows. A few minutes later, his eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness, and he spotted a lot of blood splatters and pools on the floor, ceiling, and walls. The pieces of glass already littered the floor, and most of the desks were overturned, and some were broken in half. It looked like a disaster zone struck through the place.

Gasping at the stench of once fresh blood and deteriorating corpses that had probably been lying there for hours. Kouta tried to maneuver his way through the masses, but then he noticed that he wasn't alone. The figure in red stood in the corner. In fear, Kouta shrunk toward the wall and tried to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. He covered his mouth, but could not seem to keep the bile building up inside. He let out what had been left in his stomach out, and added to the bloody mess around him. He fell to his knees, weak, and looked up to see the figure floating toward him as if he had unfinished business left with him.

Great, this is a crappy time for me to get killed! He thought. And the culprit is most likely a diclionis of some kind, because only damage on this kind of scale could have enough power to kill everyone and leave havoc in its wake. The figure came increasingly closer and the young man kept moving backward. He stumbled over a body, and landed squarely on his butt. Tears gathered at the corner of his eyes. Damn it! He was not going to cry over something like this! He was a MAN! Yet, in a dying situation, it seemed okay to bawl like an idiot.

"P-Please…don't kill me!" he stuttered out.

_"Kishi!" _

The figure pulled something out and held up a narrow ruby gem in front of him. It was sort of dull, and Kouta stared deeply at it. The object was alluring, and yet he knew that he was getting into a dangerous situation, but he wasn't sure anymore. Maybe the figure decided to spare him for some odd reason. Suddenly, the figure knelt down to Kouta's level and pushed the jewel into the bare skin of Kouta's chest, right over his heart. Red hot pain coursed through Kouta's body, and he fell right over, limp.

… … …

After what seemed like another few hours, Kouta woke to find himself at the hospital. He surveyed the room around him, and looked down at his arm. It was bandaged, and apparently it still stung from earlier. He opened the white hospital shirt and saw his chest was also bandaged, which suggested the strange gem that the figure in red shot him with. The massacre that had occurred was still fresh in his memory, and it felt like the incident was days ago, but it was still the same day, but later. Suddenly, he heard voices out in the hallway. He recognized the voices as the girls! It seemed that Mayu, Yuka, Nana, and Nyu had come to visit him, and Yuka was arguing with what seemed like the doctor and some other person.

"Doctor, you have to let us in! He's with us!" Yuka tried to reason.

"I am sorry, but we cannot let him be seen by anyone until the attorney and police get here." The doctor said.

"Why would we need to wait for an attorney?" Yuka asked.

"There has been…some complications and we have reports that say that he is not to be seen by family members or friends until further notice." The doctor explained.

Then, the sound of multiple footsteps was heard, and stopped until they reached the doctor.

"Ah! Mr. Tamaki! You may see him." The doctor said.

"Oh, really. That's too bad, I hate to be a harbinger of bad news, but there is something deeply troubling that we simply must discuss with the lad." Tamaki said.

"Very well, you may proceed." The doctor allowed.

"You may enter too, if you girls wish." Tamaki said, and the door opened to let everyone into the room.

In a second, Kouta made it look like he hadn't listened in on their conversation and pretended to still be asleep. He pretended to stir, and open his eyes slowly to see an aveage-looking middle aged Japanese man with glasses within his peripheral vision. He slowly rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed.

"Ah, you're awake, my boy!" Tamaki exclaimed, opening his arms wide. "How are you feeling, Kouta-kun? My name is Tsunenaga Tamaki, and I am an attorney, and I wish to help plead with your case!" Tamaki asked, his eyes narrow like a fox, or something like that, and his face contorted into a sick grin, but whether good or bad, no one could tell. The way his expression was at the moment was starting to seem suspicious, but since the doctor did mention that he was an attorney, Kouta had no choice but to trust this man.

"C-case?" the young man made out. "What case?"

"There is no easy way to put this," Tamaki stood straight up, and adjusted his glasses. "but you have been accused of mass murder, where a class of 31 second year junior high school students were found dead earlier today, and you were the only one left alive."

"Wh-what? Th-that can't be true!" Kouta nearly lost it, and the girls who stood by completely quiet were staring wide-eyed and couldn't believe what was happening. "I was among the victims too! The red man even shot me with something! I can show you!" He opened his shirt to try and reveal that he had indeed been hit with the gem thing that had caused him pain, but the jewel was not there, and there were no signs that indicated that it had been there in the first place.

"It's not there…" he whispered to himself after seeing the confusion on everyone's faces. "I'm innocent, I tell you! I would never kill anyone, especially junior high kids, please believe me!" he cried hysterically.

"I'm afraid that there's no evidence that says that you're innocent anywhere. You'll see what I'm talking about later at the court case, but the evidence has been laid out in front of us this whole time. This is a case where many lives were taken, and their relatives and respective friends have been afflicted emotionally, and you have been conveniently left alive. There's just no way in reality that a murderer would leave just one person alive after they murdered 31 kids and one teacher, it's too much of a coincidence." Tamaki explained. "And, whoever this 'red man' is, I promise I'll try to defend your case to the best of my ability. Until the court case, why don't you rest? You'll need your full energy later."

"No."

"No!"

**"NO!"** he shouted, and cried in panic until he blacked out.

… … …

Until the time of the hearing, no one was allowed to visit him, as he was recovering emotionally, and his inner demons were at war with each other. It had escalated so badly that he has barely eaten or slept since the news of his accusations came. He knew that he was innocent, at least in his mind he felt he was innocent. What of the red man? Well, all the thoughts kept revolving around the man that was in red. All of his anger channeled and boiled to the surface every time he thought of the wicked man that murdered his students. He simply held no recollection that he was the one responsible for killing those kids, but if he did, maybe he just did it while he blacked out. But, why would the red man still remain there even after the massacre? It seemed all too selective, as if _he_ had been the target all along.

The TV was on and then he tried to focus on it as it had an eye-catching news report going on. The news showed a giant amusement park with many happy people, kids and adults each, they looked a bit too happy to be there. It was odd. The oddest thing wasn't the people, or the park, but the attention was focused on a huge dome in the middle of the amusement park.

"It is the 12th year anniversary ever since the amusement park, Deadman Wonderland has opened its gates to the public eye. With eye-popping rides and games for families, and attractions, every year we get approximately 10 million worldwide that visit this amusement park." The reporter announced gleefully, but continued. "What's special about Deadman Wonderland is not only the thrill of the rides, but the spectacular shows that it has to offer!"

The scene changed to the inside of the Dome, and there were a bunch of people in skintight grey bodysuits with metal braces on their necks running around obstacles, with some of them falling in, or getting hit with big boulders and other objects.

The event changed to a cage match between two similar dressed people, two men, going against each other in a head to head battle, but it was cut short for some reason. Then, the scene changed to acrobats of the same uniform doing their act, and other such activities. Overall, the only thing that was strange was that the performers looked very frightened and scared, like they were about to die, or something.

"So, come one, and come all! Come to Deadman Wonderland!" the reporter finally said. "It's the **best** place on Earth to be!"

That was when the report ended and a commercial came up. All Kouta was wondering throughout the entire program was 'why in the world would an amusement park be called 'Deadman Wonderland'? It sounds stupid.

… … …

He got ready for the day and wore a suit that Yuka had left for him, at the request of Tamaki. He dressed for the horrible day ahead, and walked to the entrance where the police and Tamaki were waiting for him. He hung his head low and got into the police car and they drove him to the court.

At the court, the judges had settled on a verdict, and the evidence had been laid before everyone's eyes, and even Kouta's. Yuka, Nyu, Mayu, and Nana were there as well, but they couldn't do anything for fear that they would start a public scandal. They watched the court case unfold, and a first time in a long time, they were feeling confused and lost.

Kouta was equally punched in the face with each new revelation about his involvement with the massacre. Why was the world accusing him of a crime he knew he never committed? He just prayed to any deity out there that someone would take him there and then, but he knew that he had to face the cold hard truth of reality.

"The jury has reached a verdict!" the judge proclaimed. "Mr. Kouta Fujiyoshi, you are hereby deemed guilty of all charges and you are charged with the death penalty as a death row inmate..."

He didn't seem to hear the last bit the judge said, but by now, the crowd was in uproar, and as much as the public just wanted to kill him right then and there and get the damn court case over and kill the murderer that killed their children, they could not as the police had to maintain the order.

"Order! Order in the court!" The judge pounded his gable and shouted, immediately silencing the court. "Take him away...forever." he pounded his gable one last time, and let the police wrap his wrists with handcuffs each and led him toward the exit. The whole time, the crowd threw objects at him, or literally him with something.

He turned his eyes toward the four he had been living with the whole time. He noticed something wrong with Nyu at the time. Her head was bowed, and her eyes were covered by shadows, which meant something was about to go down. Her head dipped up again, and he saw the slither of vectors come out from behind her, and that caused Kouta to snap, making Nyu, now Lucy come out of her reverie.

"Stop! No! Don't do it here!" Kouta managed to kick the two officers down, and proceed down toward the judge. "I'm innocent, I tell you!" he shouted hysterically.

"It was the Red Man! He killed all those kids! I saw!"

"Well, what proof do you have that those kids weren't killed by you?" A man near him at the time asked angrily. He immediately pounced on Kouta and proceeded to beat him up. "You killed my only daughter, and now you're getting what you deserve!"

Two new police officers came and pulled the man away from Kouta, while he shouted and flailed like a wild animal. For the first time in his young life, he was scare for life, and he knew that he would never look at life the same way again.

The judge pressed a thumb to his forehead and signaled over to Tamaki who turned on the projector and the whole court room focused at the front of the room. There, in the aftermath of the devastated classroom, with all the bodies all around the feet of…what could only be Kouta! He was looking real smug and he was even smirking evilly.

"Ha! If you're seeing this then that means by now you've seen the true human nature! Yes, it was I who slaughtered these pathetic kids! Why? They were asking for it, and I did them a favor by killing them! It was simple, really. This world is full of bullshit, and I decided not to let it come to that with this pathetic generation! Now, grovel at my feet! For I will bring upon retribution onto this world with my 'Branch of Sin'! Ha ha!" He laughed as he ended his speech, and the video ended.

The shock on everyone's face was evident, and Kouta looked on empty at the crowd. His friends were looking at him with confused looks, even Lucy was too confused with the way the events transpired, and even looked away. When Kouta saw this action, his mind became a big blur and all the sound from the room just became a bunch of muffled sounds. He didn't care anymore, and he simply just wanted to die right then and there. If they were going to kill him any way, why not do it in front of them?

The police came in and he let them drag him away to a prison and he prayed to some deity out there that he would just wake up from this nightmare! All the while, he was murmuring 'I didn't do it. I'm innocent. It was the Red Man.'

And, this is just the beginning of a _long_ nightmare.

… … …

A/N: Phew! How's it going, everyone! I have had a busy schedule these past few months, and as such, I wasn't able to make any updates with any of my stories, and this story has just been bothering me in the back of my mind for ages, and I just wanted to get this out. I know I have a growing stack of unfinished fics, but I will try to finish this one here, and see how my success will go from here. I have recently watched and read from both of these anime, and I have to say that they have sparked an interesting scenario story in me. I hope you pardon my choice in Kouta's last name, because when I tried to look, there was no mention of any of their last names, so I made one up that sounded remotely similar to Ganta. Their names are even alike! Kouta and Ganta! Sorry I had him killed in this story, but I just wanted to put in a sort of mature mind and equally tragic character into this story. Also, about their ages, I'm thinking of making Shiro the same age as Kouta, so she'll be around 19, like Kouta is. So, bear with me! Hope you liked it! Rate and review here, and I will be back with another one as soon as possible!

Next time: Death Row Inmates


	2. Death Row Inmates

Summary: AU: After the events transpired at the end of Elfen Lied, a new set of problems arise. Kouta is suddenly accused of a crime he didn't commit, and is sentenced to death. His punishment, he is sent to Deadman Wonderland. The question is, will he escape this nightmare alive, or will he die? Read on to find out! Reviews appreciated.

*Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or contents from Deadman Wonderland, or Elfen Lied, they belong to their respective creators.*

**Kouta in Wonderland**

Chapter 2: Death Row Inmates

Once Kouta was escorted out of the court, he was led to a room nearby and stripped of his clothes. He was too exhausted to care about what they did to him. The police officers made him put on a gray skin-tight body suit. After he was finished, they proceeded to place a metal neck brace of some kind on his neck and fastened it to him. Kouta looked down at the clothes he had been forced to wear, and quickly his eyes widened.

"What is this?" he asked, dumbly.

"It's your prison uniform." One of the officers said.

"But…where have I seen this uniform before?" he asked.

"It's for your sentence to Deadman Wonderland." The other officer replied. "Didn't you hear it?"

"But, I thought Deadman Wonderland was a circus?"

"On the outside it seems like an ordinary circus," he explained. "but on the inside, it's actually one of the country's top prisons for the worst criminals. Basically, you are going there to hear for your crimes. If you're sent there, you will _most likely _die there."

"M-most likely?" Kouta gulped.

"Everyone at one point there has already died, and escaping it is not an option." The other officer input.

"But, then I would never be able to see my family again!" Kouta protested.

"That's good." The second officer said. "If someone like you were sent to that prison and if I was in your family, I would not want to see you ever again."

"You should've thought of that before you murdered those kids." The first officer smirked. "Now, you'll be needing this." He passed Kouta a small knapsack with some random items in it, and moved him outside to where the bus was going to take them.

"Have fun! Don't get killed too soon!"

Kouta's eyes widened even more as he was pushed further into the bus. It seemed like he wasn't the only person on the bus, as there were about 8 other people on the bus, but even then, they were keen on ignoring him. The door behind him closed and Kouta wandered to the back of the bus and hugged his knees to his chest, and protesting against his mind that this was actually happening.

… … …

The trip to the park was almost like being on a field trip in elementary school, except now he was going to the place while in the wrong circumstances. He looked out the window and spotted a huge dome, which was probably the prison in disguise. The bus stopped, and the passengers were led inside the prison.

They were lined up inside in terms of age, so naturally, he was the youngest looking person and placed at the very end of the line. It felt like they were at military camp. The sound of the quick padding of leather boots came, and Kouta looked in the direction it was coming from. A tall, attractive older woman with brown hair tucked into a bun with one long lock of hair sticking out to the right side of her face, fixed with a sargeant's hat and uniform, with a sword strapped to her hip, marched toward them with her arms crossed underneath her…rather large bust.

Her chest bounced as she walked, but Kouta caught himself staring too long in one area, and the woman quickly crossed his line of vision and presented herself in the middle, facing the line of prisoners with two female cadets at her sides. Although she looked pretty, she had a very intimidating aura, and looked like she was glaring coldly at the prisoners. Many visibly gulped at her, while others ogled her huge breasts. If she was pissed that the gross older men were making quiet cat calls, she certainly didn't show it, or simply she did not care.

Quickly, she went over the rules of the prison, and who she was as the chief warden. Her name was Makina.

"Deadman Wonderland, in the eyes of the public, is a place for the entertainment of the many, so that means that whether you live or die, someone else will come in to fill in your place. You will be placed in a lot of live-or-die situations, and by that point, you will suffer for the consequences. Anything that goes on around here, I am in charge of. The collars you wear around your necks, mark you as prisoners, and will never come off. Once you are in here, you will never see the outside world _again_. It is clear that whatever the reason for your being here was no accident." She paused while she paced back and forth to look dead into Kouta's eyes. She continued and paced around again. "Before you were dropped off here, you were given a knapsack with your daily essentials. You will find out later what their purpose is for. Any questions?"

"I got one, ma'am." One perverted looking middle-aged man asked with a smirk.

"Shoot."

"What's your cup size?" he asked.

"G-cup." She said simply.

Kouta's eyes widened at this revelation. The woman had confidence, and actually answered that. He thought the man that asked the question was naturally stupid, because no moral man would ask a woman to her face what her size is, unless she had the capability to overpower you.

"Wow." He and the other prisoners the man's age whistled.

Just then, a cart with a bunch of stuff bumped into Kouta, and pushed him onto his butt while knocking over some of the stuff on it. The guy behind the cart got startled and tried to help Kouta up. He had gray hair with one fringe over one eye.

"Are you okay? I'm sorry I didn't see you!" he apologized, and helped Kouta up while gathering as many of the fallen items as possible.

"It's fine, don't worry." He said. At least there were some polite people in this prison.

The woman known as Makina marched over to the guy with cold anger written clearly on her face.

"What did you steal?" she asked, confusing the both of them.

"Huh?"

"I asked, what did you steal from this young man's sack?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I-I don't know what you're-" he was interrupted with the quick slash to his chest with her lightning fast sword.

"Don't test me." She said simply, and turned back to the bunch of prisoners, some of which had an accident of the wet kind. "Get the medical staff here." She said into her walkie-talkie, and proceeded to finish what she was going to say.

"Hey, that was wrong and uncalled for!" Kouta protested against her. "He didn't do anything wrong."

"On the contrary, the world is wrong and unjust. And as a warning from now on," She said. "if you do anything out of line here, I _will deal_ with you. Understand?"

The prisoners all nodded together, including Kouta who recovered from the brutal attack the woman did to the other guy. The medical staff arrived and placed the young man on a stretcher and hauled him to the infirmary. Kouta visibly gulped, he did not want to mess around with this woman.

… … …

As soon as the meeting with Chief Warden Makina was over, Kouta and some other prisoners were led off to do their first task as prisoners, construction. Kouta complained inside his mind while hauling a long piece of lumber to a pile of other ones. He set it down and fell to his knees and covered his face with his hands in despair. The reality of the situation was that he isn't going to be able to see Lucy/Nyu, or the others, ever.

At the court, Lucy visibly turned away. Kouta took it as a sign that she would not interfere. But, Kouta thought she would try and bail him out of this one, but then he remembered the promise they made. She vowed never to harm another human being, no matter what the circumstance, and this was probably one of them. Damn, out of all the reasons to break him out, she couldn't do anything, not when his face and body was projected in a fraud video he never made.

"I'm gonna be killed anyway for something I know I didn't do." He said to himself, tears gathering at the corner of his eyes. "I just wanna die and get it over with. Why me?"

"You say you wanna die?" a strange, but familiar voice rang out and Kouta looked up and tried to identify it.

He looked up and saw a girl around his age landing on her feet, after swan diving from the very top of the building, onto the ground in front of him. He took in her strange appearance. The girl was pretty and had hair as white as snow, eye lashes and eyebrows white, skin just as pale, and blood red eyes. She wore a form fitting peach colored bodysuit with red target markings all over, which hugged her petite, but curvy figure very well, and wore brown mittens on her hands, with a huge collar that reminded him of a dog's cone on her neck.

"Wh-who are you?" he asked. "Wh-what do you want?"

"I've come to kill you!" she said simply, and grabbed a pole nearby and proceeded to whack Kouta with it. Kouta dodged all the attacks aimed at him, and ran away from her while the strange albino girl chased after him.

"Why do you wanna kill me?!" he cried while running.

"Because you said you wanted to die!" she reasoned. "So, if you wanna die, you have to hold still so I can kill you!" she swung horizontally at Kouta, and Kouta ducked under it, and rolled away from her.

"How can you say that so easily?" he asked. "Are you psycho, or something?"

"Oh! So, you say you want to die, yet your actions say you want to live!" she said. "So that explains it!" she let her pole rest, and the two faced each other.

"Yes, I wanna…no, I wanna die, but not this way!" he said. "That doesn't make sense, but normal people don't go around killing other people because they said that on a whim! I have to be physically and mentally prepared first!"

"Hmm…" the girl gave the young man the once over. "Your words say you want to die, but your heart is telling me you want to live! No one wants to forfeit their life for something stupid!" she said in a light, bubbly tone.

"But, I've been accused for a crime I didn't commit!" he exclaimed. "I didn't lay a finger on those kids! And if I'm going to be accused for something like that, and all my friends and family doubt me, I guess I have no choice!" after he said that, he tripped and fell onto his face. He turned over to his backside and leaned against the wall.

Soon, he felt a light body come into contact with his. He opened his eyes and saw that the strange girl was on top of him, her chest touching his. He tried all he could to resist blushing, but now the girl was talking.

"The world doesn't understand what it doesn't see." She said. "You know your innocent, but the world doesn't. Why continue to live in a world that doesn't want you to exist?"

"I-I don't know why…" he said finally.

"Don't friends try and make the other suffer less?" she asked with a big smile on her face. Saying such serious things with a happy expression and tone of voice was creepy on many levels, but Kouta didn't question it.

"And how does killing me make me suffer less?" he asked.

"If you end suffering with death, you no longer have to deal with the world." She said pointing a finger as if to lecture him on such a dark subject.

"But…friends don't try to kill each other!" he said. "I guess I was lying when I said I wanted to die. I will die eventually, but I don't want to die as I am now…"

"That makes sense." She said. "But what do friends do if they don't try to kill each other?"

"Um…they eat together, play together, and protect each other from harm." He said.

"Do sweets count?" she asked.

"Yeah."

She pulled Kouta to his feet and got a cookie out of nowhere and presented it to Kouta.

"Cookie?" she offered with a big smile.

"Sure." He said, and took the cookie and bit it. "Wow! This is great!" he exclaimed.

"It is, Kouta!" she agreed with a giggle.

"Wait! How did you know my name?" he asked, suspiciously.

"Huh? You mean you don't remember me?" she said, wide eyed, and a little sad. "When we were little, we used to play together!"

He closed his eyes to try and remember the albino girl, but everything he tried ended with a blank.

"Sorry, I don't remember us playing together." Because all the thoughts and memories he did have as a child were of Lucy, and this girl was saying they played together too?

"Well, I guess it has been a long time." She said with a small smile, until her big grin returned. "Let's introduce ourselves again! I'm Shiro, and you're Kouta!"

Kouta laughed at Shiro's antics, and Shiro soon joined in. It got to the point where Kouta started backing up a bit too much, and ended up bumping into another prisoner. Kouta turned around to face an older man, probably in his thirties. A tick mark grew on the side of the guy's face, and shoved Kouta away.

"Yo, whadda ya think you're doing, punk?" he said in a very ghetto accent. "Ya'll over here messin' with your little girlfriend. Who da' ya think ya are?"

"Um, I'm sorry if I got in your way." Kouta held his hands up in surrender and backed away from the man, but the man advanced closer to him.

"I ain't takin' any 'pology from a bitchy-ass punk like you!" he got in Kouta's face, and grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him up to eye level with him, since he was way taller. "I'm about ta' smash your face in!"

"Stop it!" Shiro shouted, and pushed the man down while taking Kouta away from him and into a pile of wood, breaking them on contact. "Don't pick on Kouta!"

The irritated man got to his feet and advanced on the albino girl. The girl backed up until she was up against the wall, cornered by the man.

"And you're goin' ta' stop me?" he smacked the girl away with such force that caused her to hit the wall hard, and fall limp to the ground. "Little bitches should stay outta the way! Now, where were we?" he turned back to Kouta, who was also a few feet away from Shiro.

"Look out!" a random guy shouted from afar. Suddenly, the statue on top of the building started falling.

The guy quickly ran out of the way, as well as everyone in the vicinity. The only one who hadn't was Shiro. Kouta tried calling to her, but she didn't seem to stir. It looked to be too late to try and save her and himself. The knowledge that he wouldn't be able to do anything left him very angry.

"Too many times I've let someone die, or suffer because of my inability to help them!" he shouted to no one in particular.

Then, he felt a great pain, like the one from the time with the Red Man. He recalled the innocent victims' expressions when they were slaughtered by the Red Man. He then remembered how his sister and father died. It felt like a similar situation, and he was only getting angrier by the minute. He dragged his hand up when he felt himself bleeding from the many splinters he got from being thrown at the chunks of wood. A slight red glow could be seen from beneath his suit, and the anger boiled down to the pressure on his right hand.

"And, I will never let that happen to anyone ever again!" he vowed and pushed with all his might upward.

The pain only grew stronger, and his blood rushed at the same time, like a surge of energy. He felt like a growing typhoon. He closed his eyes to try and contain the pain, but he couldn't help the rush from pouring out like wildfire. His whole body burned with raging power. When he couldn't contain it anymore, he opened his eyes again and a circle of blue hexagons surrounded his right upper arm, then a beam of thick concentrated energy shot out like a hurricane and blasted the falling debris into oblivion, saving Shiro from certain death.

His breath grew haggard, and he felt his whole body shutting down from the energy spent. He fell face forward onto his face, and took one final look at the albino girl's unconscious form. Kouta had no idea where that power came from, but he was glad that he was able to save the girl from impending death. His vision blurred and blacked out.

… … …

A/N: So, I'll try and upload as many chapters as I can into this every weekend. It's a lot of work to try and balance school and my fan fics. This is going to be a challenge! Now, we've gotten to the point where everything has just begun, and everything is almost following the cannon. Why did I choose Kouta to be a character in Deadman Wonderland? He deserves to be a real hero! Plus, Kouta and Ganta are similar sounding names. They both also have such tragic pasts and circumstances that I couldn't help but put together! After hearing the similarities and how much people compare Elfen Lied to Deadman Wonderland, I had the inspiration to fuse these two anime together. Whether I follow the anime or the manga depends on what I think would be easier to write about. So far, it's gotten better! Anyway, please rate and review, and tell me what you guys think about this story! I want to find out! Thanks again for reading, and I'll try to get back to you next week! Sayonara!

Next time: The Dog Race!


	3. The Dog Race

Summary: AU: After the events transpired at the end of Elfen Lied, a new set of problems arise. Kouta is suddenly accused of a crime he didn't commit, and is sentenced to death. His punishment, he is sent to Deadman Wonderland. The question is, will he escape this nightmare alive, or will he die? Read on to find out! Reviews appreciated.

*Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or contents from Deadman Wonderland, or Elfen Lied, they belong to their respective creators.*

**Kouta in Wonderland**

… … …

Chapter 3: The Dog Race

By the time Kouta woke up, he found himself lying on the infirmary bed. He felt his head to check if he was really still alive. He sat up on the bed, only to fall back onto his back because of how much pain his abdomen was at the moment. He closed his eyes to qualm the pain away, and it did little by little.

"Yo, new guy." A new voice broke through his reverie.

Kouta opened his eyes again, and looked toward the direction in which he heard the voice coming from. To his surprise, on the bed opposite from his lay the gray haired boy from earlier. Kouta, in his grief and in the wake of the accident, forgot all about the boy that got slashed by Chief Warden Makina. It was then that he noticed the bandages on his chest and stomach.

"You…" Kouta managed. "You got slashed with that sword…"

"Ah, this?" the other guy pointed to his chest, then laughed. "Don't worry. I seem to be accumulating new injuries everyday, so it's fine!"

"How is being slashed in the chest fine?" Kouta asked, eyes wide.

"Well, it's only a scratch on the surface, and the Chief Warden never kills anyone without reason, plus she only grazed the outer layer of my skin, so it's only a flesh wound." The other guy smiled and closed his one visible eye to display humor. "What's your name, new guy?"

"Fujiyoshi. Fujiyoshi, Kouta." Kouta introduced himself.

"Wait, you're the guy that everyone's been talking about. They called you the guy that killed a bunch of middle school students and got sentenced to Death Row."

"But that's not true! I wasn't involved at all! I was there, and the real murderer is still out there! He's known as the Red Man!" Kouta babbled.

"So, let me get this straight." Yoh said. "You're saying you're innocent, and you've been framed somehow, and the real killer is still out there. That would mean that you're not supposed to be here."

"That's right! I was falsely accused, yet no one around here believes me! I don't believe for a second that I killed those kids, because I went nowhere near them! I swear it was the Red Man!"

"Red Man?"

"That's what the guy was wearing at the time!"

"Well, I won't judge you any other way. The name's Takami. Takami Yoh. But, you can call me Yoh." The gray haired boy said. "It's nice to meet you. I hope we can still be friends."

Kouta thought for a second, and decided to accept the hand of friendship Takami was giving him.

"Thanks, and you could call me Kouta."

Just then, the nurse walked in, and checked on Kouta's condition, and walked back out. She seemed to be a little out of whack, but Kouta ignored that, and continued to talk with Yoh. While they were talking about themselves, Kouta's stomach decided to present itself and make a huge growl that made both grow silent.

"Well, it seems like you haven't eaten in a while, huh." Yoh chuckled.

"Well, I haven't eaten anything since I got here." Kouta said, his cheeks brightening up. "By the way, how long have I been out?"

"Um, about 24 hours." Yoh said. "Don't worry. It's perfectly normal to get hungry after not having anything to eat after all that time."

"So, what do I do about food?" Kouta asked.

"Well, how much cast points do you have?" Yoh asked.

"Cast points?"

"Oh, that's right." Yoh said, just realizing. " You're new, and you probably haven't been given the memo about the place."

"Can you explain what this place is about and what it does?"

"Well, I've been around this place for quite a while, so I pretty much know the place." Yoh said. "It's like this, first Deadman Wonderland, as you know, is a place for notorious criminals are sent to when they have been caught and committed heinous crimes. If you are on Death Row, you have been punished for real, and the only way you die is if you suffer their penalties. This works because of the struggle for survival."

"What are the suits and the electronic collars for, anyway?" Kouta asked.

"We wear the gray skin-tight suits to mark us as prisoners." Yoh explained. "Plus, the collars we all wear are designed to mark us, like dog collars, but they come with special features. Basically, if you're out of line at any point, they could choose to release the toxic poison that's flowing through these electronic collars, and kill us like viruses. It's also a race against time, because once you wear these collars, you could die after the timer set on them run out. You have 72 hours to eat antidotes called 'candies' to reset the timers, or stop the spreading of the poison if you run out of time."

"Where do you get these candies?" Kouta asked.

"Candies are usually found in the gray essentials sacks all prisoners are given. At other times, they're found when you get a certain amount of cast points, or win an event. Some of these events are labeled such as 'Dog Races'." He explained.

"Dog Races?"

"Dog Races entail the prisoners who compete in them to gain cast points and run through an obstacle course of death. They end when there's only one winner remaining. The sick part about Dog Races is that we're the entertainment, and if we fail, we're killed." Yoh said through gritted teeth. "It's a sick program, and we risk our entire lives all for the sake of entertainment and being used like circus animals."

"And the Cast Points?"

"Since we can't buy things using money, we use little cash cards with a balance called 'Cast Points'. It's like buying things with a debit card, and if you run out of cast points, you have to earn them the same way as all the things. In other words, if you want to pay for meals, candies, or other supplies, you have to participate in these games, and win."

"T-That means you played in these…games…and survived?"

"Not without a price to pay." Yoh said sadly. "I risk my life trying to gain these cast points, but they're worth it in the end…"

The atmosphere between the two young men grew silent and a little awkward. On the one hand, it seems as if they weren't going to execute Kouta, but if they did, they would force him to do it by starving the prisoners and placing them in live or die situations.

Suddenly, the vent over them broke and crashed to the floor between both beds. Yoh and Kouta looked up to see who was coming down. In a flash, a white figure jumped down from the vent and landed lightly on her toes with both arms spread eagle.

"Kouta! You're awake!" Shiro exclaimed, and glomped him while he was still in shock.

"Ah! Shiro!" Kouta shouted. "You're alive!"

"Of course! It's all thanks to you that Shiro's still alive!" Shiro cried happily and addressed herself in the annoying third person. while holding him in a death grip.

"Hey, let me go!" Kouta begged. "You're crushing me!"

"Oh! Sorry!" she apologized and let him go.

"Umm…this is awkward." Yoh cleared his throat from the other side of the room. "Do you guys know each other?"

"Yes!" Shiro exclaimed childishly. "Kouta is Shiro's bestest friend in the WHOLE world!"

"Uh, Shiro's?" Yoh asked, and Kouta shrugged. "Well, it's good to know you have a reliable friend, huh, Kouta-kun?"

"Yeah…I guess." Kouta sweat dropped when Shiro hung her arms around Kouta's shoulders. The whole time, Kouta thought about resisting temptation and looking away from the young energetic woman's large chest that was literally pressing onto his own.

"Oh, Shiro. Let me introduce you to Yoh-kun." He said casually gesturing to the gray haired boy. "Yoh- kun, this is Shiro."

"Hi!" Shiro waved.

"Anyway, sorry to interrupt," Yoh said abruptly. "are you going to enter the Dog Race?"

"Uh…Do I have a choice?" Kouta asked, sweat droplets forming on his face.

"You don't have much choice if you wanna eat and get that antidote."

"Hey, Kouta?" Shiro asked expectantly. "Can we get sweet beans afterwards?"

"Sweet beans?"

"Yeah! If we win, we can eat sweet beans together, like friends do!"

"Hmm…okay? It's not like I have any choice in the matter…"

"Then, let's go!"

… … …

The next day, Kouta and Yoh were getting ready for the Dog Race in the locker room. He was surprised people get to wear things besides the prison uniform. Apparently, if you had enough Cast Points, you could buy a T-shirt and some jeans instead of the uniform. You only wear uniforms if you have to wear it, or if you're low on Cast Points. The only thing you can't do is take off the 'Dog Collars', that's what he decided to call them.

Just then, the doors to the locker room burst open and a huge man followed by some other guys marched in like a gang. Many of the weaker prisoners looked toward the men walking in, everyone that is, except Kouta who was busy getting ready. The people around him noticed this, and backed out of the way to let the huge man go closer to him. The twinkle in the man's eyes was unmistakable, and read of a bloodthirsty mafia boss that wanted people to notice him and bow down to his greatness.

Yoh poked at Kouta to get him to turn around. What Kouta was looking at didn't seem to register that bad, until he read the situation.

"He's a guy you don't wanna mess with." Yoh said.

"Why?" Kouta asked.

"His name is Kazumasa Kozuji. He's notorious for being involved in serious crimes in the past. Even when he wasn't a former gang leader, he's certainly still brutal now." He explained.

"That just makes him a big bully." Kouta said.

"Hey, you!" He called out to Kouta, but Kouta didn't seem to be listening to him, aware that he was the only one talking at the time. "It seems like we have a new fella. Shall we tell him the news?"

His supporters all nodded and added big smirks to their faces. Kouta didn't like that one bit.

"Let me give you some of the rules here, as a gesture of good will." Kozuji taunted. "Let's get some things straight. Rule number one, I'm the one that rules here, two you must listen to everything I say, and lastly, do everything I say. If you fail to listen to me, if you look at me the wrong way, if you so much as disobey my orders, I'll kill you…if anything else doesn't." he laughed and flashed an evil grin at Kouta's direction. "Let me use your friend as an example."

One minute he stood facing Kouta, the next he was right next to Yoh, and beating the crap out of him. In the wake of his anger, Kozuji broke his arm and warranted yet another injury onto Yoh who tried to look away from him, but looked like he was bored of the situation, so Kozuji decided to punish him as a result.

"This is what happens when you fuck up." Kozuji spit on Yoh's unconscious form, and the men surrounding him laughed and walked away with him.

But, before they could reach the exit, Shiro popped out of nowhere and spin kicked Kozuji in the jaw and knocked him to the ground, effectively causing everyone in the room to stare at her in shock.

"Don't pick on Kouta!" she shouted, anger written on her face and body language. "Or I'll get really mad!"

It was a silly threat, but a little girl like her did knock the biggest man to the floor, and had him staring up at the girl. He wasn't filled with fear, but more with anger that he was caught off guard in front of such a girl.

"Hey, kid!" Kozuji shouted to Kouta. "Is this your little girlfriend? I urge you to get your head out of the gutter. 'Cuz you don't get to make the shots here, and your girlfriend won't be there to defend your ass." He said seriously, and got up to walk out of the room. "See ya' at the Race." He smirked before leaving.

Kouta was torn between the decision to quit the race, and step out of it completely, but he knew if he wasn't going to enter the race and win, he'd starve to death, or get killed by the dog collar in 18 more hours. Even if he entered and he had a chance, he'd get killed by the course, or the other inmates. Which ever way he saw it, he'd get killed regardless. If you were torn between the options of whether you die by poison or die by sick contests, you would choose the more sensible one that killed you instantly. Kouta closed his eyes, and remembered if he somehow managed to survive until the end, and stay away from the others, like being last, he'd get a better chance for survival.

Originally, he felt like dying either way was bad, but thinking about the choices, he wouldn't like the idea of going down without a fight. If he was a man, then he'd better face it, and win the Dog Race, and prove to Kozuji that he'd beat him and prove him wrong.

"We're going to enter the race together! Right, Kouta-kun?" Shiro asked.

"I don't know, Shiro…"

"We have to! You promised you would eat sweet beans with Shiro!" her cheeks puffed out cutely and turned a light red at the innocent statement.

"Ok, but either way, I'm still going to enter the race." He said confidently.

… … …

Later, the prisoners, including Shiro and Kouta, were lined up at the start position in the wake of the Dog Race. Shiro was stretching while Kouta shifted from foot to foot nervously. He never knew the extent of how the race was going to be, but once he heard that there can only be one winner, and therefore, one survivor, Shiro had to die with the rest of them. Wait! What was he thinking? He was probably the weakest looking guy in the course! He'd probably be the first to die anyway, and what would the point be if he got killed?

"This is hopeless." He murmured.

"What?" Shiro asked.

"Nothing." He responded back, and Shiro flashed a positive smile.

How she can be anything but nervous and scared was unusual to him, and even now, the prisoners to either side of him were trying very hard not to let fear show on their faces, but couldn't hide it in their eyes. The only ones without a care would be Kozuji and Shiro. He was beginning to have second thoughts.

"Ready! Get set! Go!"

The signal to go went off, and the prisoners around Kouta rushed off ahead in the blink of an eye, even Shiro was fast. Kouta blinked and ran also. Along the course, a bunch of platforms on the track started falling, and with them several people fell in. Kouta avoided them as much as possible. Then, after that came the loop. He gathered as much momentum as possible and ran up and through the loop obstacle.

In the wake of the second obstacle, there came several blades out of the floor and the ceiling that swayed back and forth. Kouta paused to watch several prisoners get severed and chopped in half, or sliced into pieces because of the blades. His eyes widened, and he was starting to doubt if he'll survive this one, then he looked on ahead and saw Shiro gliding through the obstacle as if it was a playground.

He gulped and slipped through a gap between the blades, and did it fast enough to get everything through in one piece. He was finished with the first set, and proceeded to finish the other eight saw blades. After seeing a pattern with the blades, he began weaving his way around them. After getting out of there alive and one piece, he ran on, careful of other objects, like boulders and other sharp objects flying at his face, trying to take his head off his shoulders, as the ones in front of him have always done. When he was at the point where he couldn't avoid an oncoming blade, Shiro bumped into him from behind, and knocked him to the floor, narrowly avoiding the flying object.

"Can you get off me, Shiro?!" he panicked, and continued running with Shiro following behind him.

He ran through a course where every other platform fell and he'd have to react fast enough to avoid falling into the abyss with sharp spikes that could kill on contact. He gulped and lost focused, and the platform started falling, with him going with it. He thought it would be the end for him, and closed his eyes to await his impending doom. He immediately thought of his surrogate family back at home, and the memories of peaceful times, back to when crazy things weren't happening to him. But, before he could hit rock bottom, Shiro came in and kicked him in the chest, and knocked them both over to the other side, on stable ground.

"Hi, Kouta!" Shiro exclaimed.

"Hey, we don't have time for this, Shiro!" Kouta cried frantically and scrambled to get up and out of the daze. "If we don't take this seriously, you could kill us both!"

Kouta continued running while avoiding more objects and boulders flying at him, and platforms falling. Soon, it became a pattern, but whenever it seemed like Kouta was going to die for sure, Shiro intervened at the perfect time, or by luck happened to be crossing his path and end up in questionable positions, he avoided some impossible traps.

Then, the final leg of the race came and Kouta saw the finish line. He looked behind him, and saw only Kozuji following him. Kouta thought by now that the big man would be killed by something, his huge size a disadvantage, but Kouta made no complaint. If he could finish the race, he would win by default.

The moment of truth came and he took a few steps forward and the tile platform in front of him exploded, like a mine field, and fell. He slid and avoided getting caught up in it. He realized why this last leg looked easy right then. The whole floor was filled with mines, and they fall after exploding. He had to be extremely careful. He ran, jumped, and with the aid of Shiro, kicked Kouta out of the way of some platforms and onto others.

He continued on without trouble until the three were surrounded by the abyss and every tile around them was gone. Kouta looked up and saw that he was facing Kozuji on another platform near him, and Shiro on a different one, just smiling there. Kozuji looked pissed. Just then, the bell rang, and staffs rained down from above and Kozuji and Shiro caught them. When the last one fell, Kouta took it and held it in front of him.

"I get it now." He said. "This is where we battle each other until there's only one left standing."

"That's right, kid" Kozuji agreed, smirking. "Your luck is about to run out. You may have survived up until now, but this ends here!"

Kouta looked over to Shiro who just kept the staff behind her back, and smiled obliviously at Kouta.

"Don't mind her. Relax, I don't hit women." He said. "Besides, she'll die anyway. That leaves just you and me, kid."

Kouta raised his staff in defense. Kozuji went for the attack, and lunged at Kouta. Kouta moved to the side, and soon found himself on the end of a barrage of fierce attacks from his opponent. Now, the platform he was on was tilting over because of the shift in weight. Kouta looked on, and jumped onto a closer one, and hopped over when that one exploded in a split second. He looked up to find Kozuji's staff just a hair's breadth away from his forehead.

"You ready to die?"

"No…" he whispered, and raised his staff to go for the final attack.

"It's a shame a kid like you has to die this way." Kozuji said, trying to sound remorseful, but in reality was enjoying seeing the distraught in Kouta's face as he prepared for death. "Anything you'd like to say before ya die? Oh, murderer?"

That opened his eyes.

"I-I'M NOT A MURDERER!" he shouted, silencing everyone in the crowd.

"Huh?"

Just then, Shiro barreled through the air and kicked Kozuji in the face, and knocked him into the spiky abyss below.

"I TOLD YOU, DON'T BULLY KOUTAAAA!" Shiro declared.

The force of Shiro's landing made the platform both she and Kouta were standing on more wobbly. Kouta's side starting tilting, and the crowd roared to life again. Kouta started slipping, and Kouta was gripping the edge of the platform.

There it is again. He was probably going to die, and this time, he might not be so lucky. He closed his eyes, and once again, memories of much happier times flooded his mind. He remembered the time not too long ago when Nyu/Lucy, or Nyu at the time, broke the clock that she was trying to fix. It was a fun time for everyone, back when he thought Nyu was innocent, only to find out later that she was a bloodthirsty monster that killed on instinct. Sure, he judged her, but that was after he realized that Lucy was the murderer of his beloved sister and father. In time, he grew to forgive Lucy, but then all this shit started to happen, and he was instantly brought back to a horrible, twisted game. He wished he could go back to those innocent times, and be with his friends and family, but he was going to die now…where are they anyway?

With a final though, he let go of the platform, and the platform evened out and straightened. He felt himself falling slowly. Maybe death isn't so bad after all…But, before he could hit the spikes, a small, but strong hands gripped onto his outstretched arm and kept him hanging. Kouta cracked open his eyes and looked up to his savior. To his surprise, he saw an image of a young albino girl in a white dress, around seven years old, and looking comically angry at him with puffed out red cheeks. He opened his eyes wider when he heard a familiar voice.

"KOUTA!" Shiro shouted, breaking through his thoughts, and opening his eyes to the sight of Shiro dangling off the edge with only her legs keeping her on the platform, and the rest of her hanging upside down, carrying his weight up.

"Wh-What the hell do you think you're doing, Shiro!?" Kouta cried, exasperated.

"I'm saving you!" Shiro explained as simple as it is.

"Why?" Kouta whispered.

"Be-because…" Shiro, somehow managed to pull some super human strength and launch herself and Kouta into the air and knock him over to a safer platform.

Kouta landed on his back, and got up with sore limbs, aching from the deadly obstacle course race. He looked back over to see that Shiro was falling into the spiky abyss, her eyes closed from exhaustion. It became clear to him that Shiro has only been trying to protect him the whole time! He shoved his wavering thoughts to the side, and grabbed Shiro's arms and prevented her from meeting the same fate he almost did. He remembered the promise they made earlier, or the promise Shiro made him agree to. He smiled at the thought. This was what Shiro was thinking?

"You idiot…" he said, and pulled Shiro up onto the platform, and lay her down. "We need to get some sweet beans…"

The crowd that had previously been cheering for one of them to die had become 'boos'. Oh, well, at least the two of them were still alive when the timer went off, signaling that there would be no winners, and a tie was unacceptable. Kouta accepted the loss, and grinned at Shiro's knocked out form.

"Thank you…Shiro..."

… … …

A/N: Another chapter up and I will get to the best parts. Don't worry! The epic stuff will come out later! The things at school have become very difficult, and have profusely messed up my schedule, so therefore, I have little time during the weekends to write and upload chapters. Well, I guess that's life. Please, give me recognition, and review my story! Thanks!

Next Chapter: The Hidden Truth of Deadman Wonderland!


	4. The Truth of Deadman Wonderland

Summary: AU: After the events transpired at the end of Elfen Lied, a new set of problems arise. Kouta is suddenly accused of a crime he didn't commit, and is sentenced to death. His punishment, he is sent to Deadman Wonderland. The question is, will he escape this nightmare alive, or will he die? Read on to find out! Reviews appreciated.

*Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or contents from Deadman Wonderland, or Elfen Lied, they belong to their respective creators.*

**Kouta in Wonderland**

… … …

Chapter 4: The Truth of Deadman Wonderland!

Takami Yoh had never felt anything like this before. Here, he stands with a brand new injury thanks to that overbearing bully, Kozuji. It seemed that whenever bad things happen, he's always the one that gets injured from it. Sigh, there's no helping it, he thought. Yoh cracked open his one visible eye at the one man whom he despised among all others, Tamaki Tsunenaga. The way the man stared at him, like that of a fox, was never good news. Ever since he had been placed in this dreaded prison, in search of his younger sisters, of course, he'd been following orders from the higher-ups, like said man.

"Did you want something from me, sir?" Yoh asked as neutrally as possible.

"Why, yes, Yoh-kun." Tamaki said in that weird, but creepy voice. "You have met our newest prisoner, have you not?"

"Yeah, Kouta-kun?" Yoh asked.

"Oh, so you're that acquainted with him, then?" Tamaki raised a mischievous eyebrow.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"Well, this makes things all the more interesting." Tamaki smirked.

"What things, sir?"

"Simple. I want you keep a vigilant eye on our newest pet."

"Wait. So you want me to look after him?"

"It should be easy to do that, my boy. Since you're already acquainted with him, you would also be doing us all a favor." Tamaki said, and pulled a candy out from inside his jacket pocket. "Is that alright?"

By accepting it, Yoh instinctively knew that he was going to have to sacrifice a lot of things for the sake of this assignment. A few sweat drops glistened on his face, and dripped down as he took the candy from Tamaki's offertory hand. He was going to be in for one hell of a ride.

… … …

Inside his cell, Kouta rested his head on his arms, thinking about the situation between him and Shiro. He couldn't tell whether they're great friends, or even if he could trust her. She just seemed out of whack to him. Kouta closed his eyes to try and think, and for some reason whenever he did that, a blurry image of a little girl in white appeared in that vision. Whenever he reopened his eyes, he instantly forgets what she looks like. This happened once before, but it was with Lucy. Maybe his conscience was trying to tell him something that he knows subconsciously.

On the same subject, he thought back to yesterday's dog race and how badly that went for him. He just remembered that once neither of them won the race, he wouldn't be rewarded with Cast Points, or 'Candies'. Kouta looked down at his collar and watched the timer tick down to his doom. He had about four hours before the timer runs out and he dies of poison. Perhaps this is his sentence for the death penalty. For some reason, every time he thought of dying there, he thought of things like hanging, or being shot in the head. Death row in Deadman Wonderland was so confusing at times. Of course, he'd never expect to understand the place entirely.

Just then, the door to his cell opened and his eyes snapped open to find the figure of his only other friend, Takami Yoh. His eyes trailed down to the cast on his arm, which reminded him that the young man was injured two days in a row. Yoh moved closer until he sat on the bed across from his.

"I see that you're my new cell mate, huh?" Yoh said.

"Huh?"

"Didn't you get the memo?" Yoh grinned. "This is also my cell, and this means we're cell mates!"

"Oh, that's cool!" Kouta agreed. "It's good to know a friendly face is sharing a cell with me."

"Yeah, well don't get too comfortable." Yoh said, seriously.

"What?"

Yoh pulled the candy from out of his pocket and a Cast Point card and presented it to Kouta. Kouta's eyes widened at the offering, and stared back at the person in question.

"What's this?" Kouta asked.

"You're Cast Points and the Candy for you to live." Yoh said.

"But, I thought that you win the Dog Race to get these?"

"Well, there's always other ways of getting these things." Yoh explained.

Kouta continued to stare at the items, and was broken out of his reverie when Yoh cleared his throat.

"You should eat the candy before you…you know." Yoh said, insisting that Kouta take the items.

Kouta debated on it, and shrugged before taking the Candy and the Cast Point card. Kouta stared at the strange wrapping. He'd been picturing the candy like a secret code, or some other thing besides a normal candy. Kouta looked once more at Yoh and earned a nod in affirmation.

"Okay, here goes nothing." Kouta opened the candy wrapper to examine a dark green, almost black, jaw breaker and popped the 'candy' into his mouth. Upon tasting the candy, Kouta's face immediately turned a pale shade of green as he shifted the horrid tasting 'candy'. "What the hell?!"

"Yeah, it's a little bitter, isn't it?" Yoh affirmed him. "Eat the whole thing. It's supposed to keep you alive for three more days."

Just as he said that, Kouta swallowed the last of the bitter candy, and took a swig from the water bottle that Yoh kept just in case. Kouta looked down at his collar as he heard the timer reset and count down from 72 hours again.

"It tastes like tree bark and sap, or something…" Kouta gagged before composing himself.

"Well, antidotes have never been known to be good tasting, you know." Yoh said.

"I guess I needed that." Kouta laughed, and Yoh joined in after.

"Say, are you hungry? We can start using those Cast Points and get you some real food." Yoh grinned. "After all, you haven't eaten all that much, except for yesterday after the Dog Race when that one girl gave you a bit of her sandwich."

"You know about that?"

"Let's just say I was around at the time." Yoh shrugged.

"Okay. Her name was Midou Azami, I think." Kouta said, recalling that a girl with noticeably pink hair and yellow eyes approached him and talked to him and offered him a sandwich afterwards. "That was awfully kind of her."

"Yeah, it's rare to find any kindness or friendship around these parts." Yoh said, leaning his chin on his remaining, uninjured hand. "But, you should be careful on who you trust, though. People here may be nice on the outside, but once you give them your whole trust, they have you in the palm of their hands."

"Well, does that mean that you're untrustworthy?" Kouta asked.

"I'm just saying, you should take precaution from now on. People here go insane after being trapped for ages, and now look at them." Yoh said, closing his eye like it means nothing. "It's just basic survival."

… … …

Kouta and Yoh are in the courtyard now, resuming their prison duties. Kouta was busy shoveling some dirt out so the other guys could place the wood in place to make more room for future prisoners. The thing about the prison, they keep expanding it so they could hold more prisoners. Upon thinking about it, how many criminals do they keep in the prison? And, what is the age range of the prisoners? So far, he's seen several people ranging from as young as eight years old, to as old as seventy years. What have these people done to get them landed in prison? It is absurd to even place children among adult prisoners, right?

"Say, why are there children in this prison?" Kouta asked Yoh, who was shoveling with one arm, next to him.

"Well, that I don't know." Yoh thought after some time. "But, whatever they did, it must have been pretty heinous enough to do this to them."

"You mean, eight year olds could have committed murders or something?" Kouta asked.

"It's not really all that far-fetched." Yoh said, placing a finger to his jaw. "People here are all guilty for something."

"You don't have to answer, but…what did you do to get yourself in prison?" Kouta asked.

"It's personal." Yoh said solemly.

"Ah, I understand." Kouta said. "What are the chances for prisoners escaping, or perhaps being let out?"

"We're here until we die." Yoh said, his back semi-turned toward Kouta. "The place has only been open for twelve years, and yet many people die for something just about every month. So, there's really no hope of escape."

"I see." Kouta said quietly, sadly thinking back to his friends back in Kamakura.

"Look, you're innocent, and a few of us believe that." Yoh said, placing his hand on Kouta's shoulder. "But the sad fact is that not everyone here or out there believes you're innocent. Right now, they don't give a fuck about whether or not you're guilty of a crime. As sad as it is many people like you are killed everyday _because _they're innocent."

"So…I should just give up, and die?" Kouta asked glumly.

"There maybe a sliver of hope out there somewhere, but the bottom line is, make the best of it however you can. Because nothing you do will ever change anything." Yoh said.

"Well, you guys are great friends, and I'm glad that there's a few people here willing to befriend me." Kouta smiled a little at that.

"Great!"

They resumed their work on the dirt afterward. In general, Kouta thought of himself as a pretty optimistic guy, most of the time. There were times when he did question the situation at hand, like Lucy when she first appeared into his life. But, for the most part, he always saw a good light even when there was darkness all around. He was far from being a saint, but he always ended up forgiving those who wronged him in the end. This time, it was different, and he had no idea how to handle it. At times, he felt like curling up into a ball and crying himself to sleep, like a baby, and others, he'd like to beat the crap out of something and make it feel pain, but what would be the use of that?

Both of them, however, never noticed a slender figure clad in a torn red outfit, standing at the top of the bell tower, overlooking the courtyard. The only thing visible to them was the noticeable smirk on the figure's exposed mouth.

"_Kishi!" _

The wind around them started blowing ominously after having a calm breeze. Suddenly, a chill ran up and down Kouta's spine as he felt an ominous aura. Both Yoh and Kouta looked up behind them and saw the red figure staring down at them. Kouta's eyes widened significantly, both of them felt fear, but Kouta felt a small sliver of anger. Kouta recovered himself, and glared hatefully at the 'Red Man', as he so liked to call the red-clad figure.

"It's the Red Man!" Kouta shouted.

"Red Man?"

"Yeah, the one I've been talking about this whole time!" Kouta exclaimed. "He's the one who killed all those students…and framed me…and got me the death sentence!"

"Uh…I know this is serious and all that…but that guy's coming…" Yoh deadpanned, disrupting Kouta's rant.

Kouta's focus was brought back to reality after images of the massacre flooded his mind. His steely glare returned and stood his ground defiantly at the figure descending upon them. He was terrified for sure, but his hatred ran deeper than that. The wind started whipping dangerously around them, and few sharp rocks grazed him, especially on his palm.

Kouta paid no attention to his bleeding palm, but instead just focused on the Red Man. In an instant, a rapidly growing pain flooded his chest where his heart was, and he clutched at it as an overwhelming amount of energy swirled around him. He was sure he felt like this before, but had forgotten about this painful, yet extremely powerful force. The blood in his body rushed forward, and he felt like it was all going to explode out in all directions.

He gripped his right wrist when he felt the rush of blood and energy throb and leave him numb. The wind grew into a hurricane, and a bunch of objects, like the stone and metal were cut and severed like butter as the waves of energy leaked and thrashed like a hundred whiplashes. For Kouta, the pain was more noticeable than the surrounding area.

Instinctively, Kouta pointed his hand toward the descending Red Man. Kouta winced a little when he felt blinding red pain coarse through his veins, as if they were on fire. All he could think about, however, was how much he despised the Red Man for ruining his life. A dozen past images flooded his mind also, and came to fruition at the present.

"You have ruined my **life**…you ruined my relationship to my **family**…everyone calls me a **liar**…a **murderer**…someone who deserves to **die**…but you know what, Red Man? You're gonna wish you'd never pissed me** OFF**!"

Kouta let all his pent up frustration out, and what came next was a pattern of blue hexagons surrounding his forearm, like before and a huge surge of energy mixed with blood that came spiraling out toward the Red Man.

In an instant, the whole center courtyard was obliterated, and the Red Man was no longer there. The aftermath left many at the scene in utter shock, and some even fainted at the sheer amount of damage. Many have never seen something like this before, and it was certainly the first time Yoh has ever seen this display of power. With all of Kouta's energy spent, he collapsed forward in exhaustion, and passed out.

"Kouta, what the hell are you?"

… … …

By the time Kouta woke up, he came upon the concerned face, and startled face, of Yoh and Shiro. Shiro was so startled that she let the partially eaten chocolate bar and milk she'd been previously holding go flying up.

"Oh, Kouta!" Shiro exclaimed. "You're awake!"

"You're here, Shiro." Kouta said. "How've you been doing?"

"Fine! Ever since I woke up, I've been looking for you, and when I did, I find that you'd fallen unconscious again! I was gonna share half my chocolate bar with you, but you wouldn't wake up! Jeez!" Shiro ranted and pouted cutely at the end.

Kouta chuckled and patted Shiro on the head innocently. She meant well, and he had to admit that the albino girl was cute in her own strange ways.

"Anyway." Yoh cleared his throat to subtly interrupt them. "What you did back there, what was _that_?"

Kouta thought for a moment before the memory of the Red Man and the insane surge of power that flooded after that. What Yoh was referring to, made it seem like he had been the one who caused all that.

"You mean, I did all that?" Kouta asked.

"Yup. We saw it all."

"But…didn't you see the Red Man?" Kouta asked.

"Yeah, we did." Yoh said.

"Do you know where he went?" Kouta asked frantically.

"Relax. I did some researching, and I found out that the 'Red Man' is hidden away somewhere in the place they call the 'G-block'."

"G-block?"

"Yeah."

"So, where is the G-block?"

"No one knows."

"What do you mean no one knows?" Kouta gasped incredulously.

"I mean, that no one here knows exactly where the G-block is." Yoh sighed.

A little while later, Yoh led the two of them to the legend, where all the locations of the 'blocks' are.

"Here's another thing for you guys to remember. The prison is divided into five blocks." Yoh explained, indicating the five sectors that connect to form the shape of a pentagon. "They are marked from the A, B, C, D, and F-blocks. Right now, we're in the C-block. That means, if they have a place for the Red Man, there's a high possibility that an unmarked block is where he's at. They supposedly keep the really notorious criminals in, and that's probably where the G-block is."

Kouta's determination returned, and so he turned back to look at the legend. There was a chance to find the Red Man and get redemption.

"Then, we'll just have to find this mystery G-block." He said with a smirk.

"But, wait, if we did that, it could be dangerous, and we could be killed!" Yoh reasoned.

"It doesn't matter. We'll die in this prison anyway." Kouta said, turning back emotionlessly at Yoh, a dead look in his eyes, one that scared Yoh and served to confuse Shiro. "I'd rather get my revenge now, and die for it then live for another second in this fraud."

"Fine. But you're not going to find it on your own like that." Yoh said.

"I thought you said that no one knew where the G-block was?"

"Oh! Oh! Shiro knows where it is!" Shiro bounced up and down like a sugar high child, waving frantically in the air.

"Really? You do?"

"Shiro's home is next to it, and if you know just which vents to go through, there's no one but Shiro who knows how to get there!" she affirmed.

"Okay, it's settled." Kouta said, seriously. "We head for the G-block tonight!"

… … …

A/N: Hello, readers! My story at this point isn't very popular and not very many people are reviewing it, but I'd like for people to give me feedback on how this story is going for them! It's a lot to ask, but it would graciously help me to make this story more interesting! I could even insert an omake here or there, starring Shiro and Lucy! Wouldn't that be cool? So, please if you have the time, review this story, and give it a rating! Thank you!

Next time: G-block and the Branch of Sin


	5. G-block and the Branch of Sin

Summary: AU: After the events transpired at the end of Elfen Lied, a new set of problems arise. Kouta is suddenly accused of a crime he didn't commit, and is sentenced to death. His punishment, he is sent to Deadman Wonderland. The question is, will he escape this nightmare alive, or will he die? Read on to find out! Reviews appreciated.

*Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or contents from Deadman Wonderland, or Elfen Lied, they belong to their respective creators.*

**Kouta in Wonderland**

… … …

Chapter 4: G-block and the Branch of Sin

Nighttime had arrived, and Shiro, Kouta, and Yoh end up directly beneath a ventilation shaft that Shiro knew led to the mysterious G-block. She seemed very tense about something, but what it was, she wouldn't tell, so she just kept quiet for once. The others found this strange, but figured that it would be best to let it go for now, and just find the G-block first, so they could find the Red Man, whom Kouta and Yoh suspected was trapped in.

They both took surveillance before proceeding, so Shiro jumped up and kicked the vent in with a spinning axe kick. The two boys stood dumbfounded at the sheer amount of agility and overall acrobatic ability she seemingly possessed in her tiny body. Once shaken, Shiro leapt through the vent first, but not before a security robot comes around and spots them. The robot surveys them, and the two froze in place, before the alarm went off.

"Emergency! Prisoners N 5580 and 9061 are escaping into the ventilation shafts! Security lock down in place, all prisoners report to their cells immediately! Necro Macros Capture N 5580 and 9061!" Makina's furious voice echoed through the intercom.

Upon hearing the announcement, a squad of Necro Macros drove around the corner and had the both of them surrounded in no time. Before the security robots could attack, Shiro came down the vent and hung upside down with her legs hanging onto the edge. Kouta and Yoh took both of Shiro's outstretched hands and in turn, pulled both of them into the vent before the robots fired their lasers.

"Damn it! Of all the lousy times!" Kouta cursed. "Thanks, Shiro, by the way. We would've been toast had you not been there." He thanked her, but she didn't appear to be listening to him.

"There's nothing we can do now anyways." Yoh stated as a matter of factly, and followed Shiro after realizing that she had already gone ahead. "Let's just go."

They both started following silently behind Shiro until they reached the end of the vent, which meant that wherever they were headed, they were indeed going in the right direction. Shiro kicked the vent clear off its hinges and hopped out, followed by Kouta and Yoh. Once outside, they were standing in the middle of a seemingly abandoned hallway, with a load of scrap metal and macro parts in various places. The only source of light they had was a dim red light.

"Where is this place?" Kouta only had to confirm it.

"I don't believe that this place is marked anywhere on the map, so I believe it's the G-block." Yoh said definitely.

Kouta walked up to a steel door that seemed to be shut tight. Kouta turned around just to survey the ground and walls around them more clearly. What remained of the G-block hallway were the macros in various disarray of damage, and what looked like dried blood.

"So, are you sure that the Red Man is down here?" Kouta asked.

"Maybe." Yoh said. "It doesn't look like it's been inhabited in years, so I don't doubt that they keep him somewhere down here."

Kouta could just feel the triumph in his veins. His revenge was now closer to being fulfilled now that he found the G-block. All that remains was to find and defeat him once and for all. With that said, he turned around to face Shiro, who was staring blankly into space, deep in thought.

"Thanks, Shiro!" Kouta said. "It's good to know that you're useful in some things!" he said bluntly.

Suddenly, a laser zipped past them, and blasted into a wall beyond them. All three turned around to face a lone macro approaching them. They had no time to rethink the situation when the macro started pining after Kouta. Kouta, the one in question, started running away, trying to escape from the gaining robot.

Meanwhile, Yoh found a nice pile of junk metal and hid behind it. He snickered at something, but just as he thought he was home free, the macro spotted him in time and fired its laser at his head. Yoh ducked under, and watched as the ventilation above him collapsed upon him, and sent him into a whole new injury.

"Damn it! Why does this keep happening?!" He cried out in pain. His arm had only just gotten better in the day that it had been injured, so now his legs are probably broken.

The robot kept chasing after Kouta now, and it seemed that no matter where the young man hid, the robot would fire its laser at him. He was now moving to the point of exhaustion, and he wasn't so sure that he could handle it.

Kouta ran over to where Yoh was, and dug him out of the pile of metal. Thankfully, he wasn't hurting too bad, otherwise, they'd have another problem on their hands. The robot fired and the two rolled out of the way in opposite directions. As they panted, the macro kept moving closer until they were backed up into the wall.

"It's over, right?" Kouta whispered, to which Yoh silently nodded.

They both closed their eyes, waiting for the macro to fire a charged laser at them and obliterate them, but instead, they heard a loud crunch of metal, to which they both opened their eyes and saw Shiro had leaped out of nowhere and flying kicked the robot square in the side. The macro's lights blinked in and out as soon as Shiro's foot came into contact with it. After that, Shiro sent the robot flying over into the wall across from them, creating a huge hole in the wall with the force and weight of the macro.

"Woah!" Yoh exclaimed. "She's either one, a strong girl, or just plain insane…"

"I'm having second thoughts myself…" Kouta commented.

Shiro turned around in a huff, and faced the both of them, hot anger present on her face, with a coating of red spreading on her cheeks. She puffed them to add the effect, but did little to make her intimidating, but only succeeded at making her looked annoyed.

"How dare you, Kouta!" she shouted. "I am useful to Kouta! Don't you forget that!" she declared, and turned around with her arms folder across her chest with an angry 'hmpf'.

"That's all she was mad at?" Kouta sweat dropped.

"Well, you did just say she was 'useful in some things'." Yoh said. "Take it from me, if you say those kinds of things to women, they wouldn't like that, so of course, she'd be mad. I mean, come on, a woman that can kick robot ass is a bingo in my book!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Kouta said. "I should apologize to her."

But, before he could go toward her, the macro powered back to life and was now rushing at Shiro. She snapped out of it quickly, and watched as the robot sped towards her. She had almost no time to react.

"Shiro!" Kouta called out.

The macro used one of its mechanical arms to throw Shiro into a wall across from it. Kouta looked back over to find Shiro, but the light was too dim so he can't see her prone form anyway. Kouta had little time to panic when the robot kept approaching him, inch by inch. Kouta backed up even more, but stumbled over a piece of scrap metal, and landed on his butt. He waited, but nothing came. In the blink of an eye, the robot was ripped to pieces by some big force that looked like red blades.

… … …

A man with spiky black hair walked through the shadows, and into the light. Protruding from the man's arms, were thick, red scythe-like blades extending out like appendages. The man had an indescribable smirk on his face, and power hungry glare fixed in his eyes. He stared Yoh and Kouta down, like dogs. What came next was unexpected. The blades protruding from the man's arms retreated back in, like liquid rushing back into slash lines and disappeared.

The force it took to disperse the blades was similar to what the Red Man had done. Kouta's mind immediately jumped to a conclusion. There was only one person in the world he knew who could do such a thing. Whether or not he was prepared to face such an opponent didn't matter at the moment. The man waited, before turning around and walking around. Kouta found this action very annoying, and decided to charge in blindly at the man.

The man, instead, swiftly dodged the outstretched fist that Kouta aimed at the back of his head and immediately the scythe-like blade exploded out of his veins, like a hurricane with a pattern of hexagons surrounding his forearm. Kouta stumbled backwards, and the man merely pushed Kouta away with the force, and slammed him into the wall.

"What do you think you're doing, brat?" the man spoke for the first time.

"I'm here for my revenge, you bastard!" Kouta declared and charged at the man blindly again.

The man sighed, and the other scythe-blade exploded out of his other arm and slashed at Kouta. Kouta ducked under the blade, and immediately the other blade came in to sweep Kouta off his feet, and fall uncharacteristically on his butt.

"You're not even a match for me." The man said, literally twelve feet away from him, while pinning Kouta to the ground with his blade inches away from Kouta's neck.

Either Kouta was seriously out of his mind, or he simply did not think things through. The man made the blades disappear back into the skin of his arms, and walk away. Immediately, Kouta couldn't help but try to fight away the familiar wave of anger he always felt when he thought of the Red Man. He closed his eyes in thought, and immediately a flash back fluttered into his line of sight.

He remembered the feeling a few times before. He felt the familiar surge of anger when he saved Shiro from the falling debris, and that last time when the Red Man appeared again. Kouta also remembered feeling the surge of power, and a rush of blood (maybe) that flew out in a non-concentrated blast at the villain in question. Just now, the man held a similar power to his own mysterious one, and just as he caught on, he realized that he must defeat the man in front of him with the same power. But how can he activate it like before?

"Kouta, what are you doing?" Yoh asked from his hiding place behind a junk pile. "Get away from him!"

"No!" Kouta shouted, and held his right wrist and pointed an open palm straight at the man that had just stopped and stared at him. "Not until the Red Man pays for his crimes!"

He tried to summon the familiar power from earlier, but no matter how hard he seemed to be forcing it, the energy would not come out.

"Damn it! Why can't I do it?" Kouta cursed out loud.

"Oh, so you possess a Branch of Sin, too?" the man sounded mildly interested.

"A what of sin?" Kouta said, confused.

"Hmm…you don't even know how to use it, huh…" the man muttered under his breath. "Fine. I'll play with you for a little while just to see what you've got, kid." He smirked.

The man summoned his blades and stood his guard, waiting for Kouta to make a move. Kouta raised a confused brow. The more he tried to exert energy and stare at the man's red blades, the more he tried to figure out why he couldn't summon the power he had earlier. The man sped toward him fast, and that snapped Kouta out of his stupor, and made him roll over and trip over a blindingly fast blade that came from under him.

He stumbled and his hand scraped against a sharp piece of metal. Kouta kept up his guard, even though he knew that he didn't stand a remote chance against this opponent. Now, Kouta had never been in a fight before…and he most certainly didn't want to do that at the moment. Kouta took the time to focus even more in the dim light, but noticed how the red blades on the man's arms dripped with some red liquid.

Kouta curled his hands into fists, but once again he was reminded of the pain he felt when he remembered how his hand was bleeding slightly. He quickly made the connection, and brought his hand up to the light and examined it like it was an alien's hand, and not his own. He thought about the power, and saw the blood in his hand jump, and floated over and under his hand. It jumped and floated according to his will, and whatever he was thinking of at the time. In the meantime, Yoh and the man were staring in anticipation, and anxiety, for Kouta to make a move.

"Kouta, what the hell are you…" Yoh mumbled.

"Interesting…" the man smirked, and put his guard up to defend himself for what he sensed coming next.

Kouta's thoughts sorted itself out, and his determination once again returned to the present battle. He now knew the way to control this new power. The first few times he unleashed this force was when he was bleeding somewhere. The power, now that he realized, was his own blood. And, if the man was turning his own blood into those scythes that stuck out of his veins, then he could do the same thing, only he'd need to be bleeding first to use it.

"I have you now, Red Man." Kouta whispered, and opened his fist to expose his bloody palm at the opponent. "Eat this!" Without needing any prompting, the familiar blue hexagon pattern surrounded his arm, and out came a stream of concentrated blood.

The man blocked most of the blood that were aimed at him, but failed to notice that some of it was able to break through his heart and hit him straight in the chest, dead center. The force of the blast caused the man to be blown away and into a pile of scrap metal.

Kouta lowered his arm, and panted as he dropped to his knees in exhaustion. He had defeated the Red Man, and it was with using his newfound power, but now he needed to reconsider using it so often. As it is pure blood that he's using as a weapon, he shouldn't be so careless, after all, if he used too much, he'd die of too much blood loss. Yoh let out a breath he didn't realized he held in after seeing the display of power again.

"What is with these freaks?" he said to himself, and climbed out of his hiding place to rejoin Kouta.

Kouta was almost hyperventilating because of the anxiety and the use of too much blood in that last attack that he could die of anemia any time soon. But, just as the two basked in the moment of triumph, the man's arm broke through the junk pile, and he emerged from it, as if he didn't just get shot near the heart. At best, Kouta had broken a couple ribs and pierced the lungs, and was dangerously near the heart, that it could be fatal, but the man acted as if the blast didn't happen. The man smirked, and summoned his blades again, and walked toward the two with a frown on his face.

Kouta was done for had that last attack not work on the man. He had put everything he had into that one attack, and it still wasn't enough to defeat the man. He waited for the man to deliver the finishing blow, as he was too exhausted to get up and move out of the way. But, unexpectedly, Shiro jumped in and flying kicked the man in the abdomen, immediately earning a loud cracking and breaking of ribs in the process. The man flew backwards and hit the wall again. He still remained in the upright position, but refused to blank out.

"Don't pick on Kouta! Don't you people understand?!" she huffed, annoyed. Everyone sweat dropped at her childish naivety.

The biggest shocker of them all, was that the blood had rushed to the man's nose, and leaked out. If this was a comical moment, well it would be considered one considering how he reacted upon seeing Shiro. Of course, any self respecting man would had they been in the same situation.

"Well, isn't this something?" he said, after plugging his nose. "You have a woman fight your battles for you, huh?" he ranted. "Call your girlfriend aside, kid, and just let me end it for you, like a real man!"

"Huh?"

"A woman that 'big' should not be allowed to get near a man's fight!" he shouted.

"What the heck?" Kouta said. "Is this really how the Red Man is?" he said as he struggled to stand up, and walk over to Shiro.

"What do you mean by 'woman that big'?" She said, obliviously. "I'm here to protect Kouta, and you should leave him alone!" The men around her just sweat dropped at her childish threat. Though if she wanted to, she could take on everyone there, and beat them up senselessly.

She took on a different position, and bent down so she could give the man an earful. Without even meaning to, she puffed her already ample chest, and made it seem bigger by doing so. To make it even more taxing, she bent even more, so all that the man seemed to be focusing on were 'those things'. This caused more blood to trickle down his nose, to which he recovered, and plugged his nose and look over at anything else that wasn't on Shiro.

"Hello! Are you even listening?" After she had finished ranting, the man had the nerve to look away while she was talking to him. "When someone's talking to you, you should look at them, you know!"

"Yeah, well, 'those things' are really distracting, and I don't know if anyone's mentioned this to you yet, but of all things to wear, they give you a skin colored, tight-skinned body suit…" he said. Shiro didn't understand, but the two other boys understood completely, but chose not to reveal it.

"What does he mean, Kouta?" Shiro asked.

"Eh, never mind that." Kouta said, trying to deter the conversation, and go back to the man. "So, I have half a mind to beat you to a pulp for the damage you've done to me!"

"What damage?" the man said, confused.

"Don't play dumb!" Kouta accused. "I know you're the Red Man! Face it, you escaped from prison and killed all those middle school students and got me the death sentence for it!"

"What the hell do you mean?" he said, incredulously. "That's bullshit. Why would I focus all my time in supposedly 'escaping' this hell hole, and kill a bunch a snot-nosed kids and frame you?"

"But, the Red Man's the only one who could use that power and attack people like that! I know that, because we heard that the Red Man is kept within the confines of the G-block, which is where we are now, and you're the number one suspect." Kouta said confidently.

"Uh, sorry to point out your mistake, but I'm not the 'Red Man'." The man deadpanned. "I'm Kiyomasa Senji, also known as 'Crow'. If I'm not mistaken, you're 'Woodpecker'."

"Stop with the lies, I know you're the Red Man!" Kouta would not give up until he had solid evidence.

Senji sighed.

"One question, do I look like I'm wearing any red, right now?" he asked, rhetorically. Kouta took a quick glance, and noticed how he was wearing a plain prison uniform with the electronic collar.

"Well, how else would you explain the blood blades?" Kouta threw out another interrogation question.

Senji sighed again.

"You must be a newbie, then. What those 'blood blades' are things called the Branch of Sin. Those who use the Branch of Sin are known as Deadmen. My ability just so happens to be named 'Crow Claw: Invisible Black'. I don't need to tell you why it's named that way, it's pretty self explanatory." Senji explained. "Just so you know, even if the 'Red Man' exists, that would mean that the person you're looking for might just be another Deadman, just like us."

"What do you mean 'us'?" Kouta asked.

"You don't really think that you, and this 'Red Man' character, use this power alone, do you? Well, let me tell you that this prison is filled with them." Senji said. "The thing is, even if you succeed in finding this 'Red Man', it'd be like trying to find a needle among other needles in a huge haystack." He explained, finally making Kouta's eyes widen at the big picture.

"You…you mean to tell me that I've been searching all over for nothing?" Kouta said, incredulously.

"I wouldn't say 'for nothing' quite yet." Senji said.

"Then would you know of him, if I gave you his description?" Kouta asked, hopeful. "I mean, the Red Man had broken out of the G-block and attacked me twice."

"Well, no one's broken out of here…otherwise, I'd know about it already…" Senji said. "In that case, you're the kid that everyone's been going on about. You're the one that's been accused of killing middle school students. And before you flat out deny it, nothing can be set in stone just yet. For all you know, there might not be Red Man to find here. It's filled with only Deadmen."

Kouta's face fell, and he collapsed to his knees with a depressed look on his face.

"After all I've done, what do I do now?" Kouta mumbled.

"You're in for a rough ride, kid." Senji smirked.

Suddenly, a laser fired past Kouta and stunned Senji into unconsciousness, and out of the darkness, another macro had arrived, and used a stun laser on Kouta. Kouta felt himself blacking out, and saw the floor rushing into his face faster than he could process. Whatever happened to the other two afterward, neither one of them knew, but all they had in mind, was something big was going to happen.

… … …

A/N: So, it's finally that time of year, people! The holidays are just around the corner, and it's time for people to get out of school, and do their shopping, and spend time with families. I don't even think I'll be around for the next couple weeks, but with this in mind, Happy Thanksgiving, and happy holidays, from yours truly! Things are really heating up, and it's finally time for the Carnival Corpse arc to begin! Please tell me what you guys think, and I'll come back with another chapter soon!

Next Chapter: Carnival Corpse! Crow vs Woodpecker!


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